quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I first heard of 'monsoon' season last year - was told to be careful - and around here rightly so

but it hardly qualifies as 'monsoon' - in most cases, locally hard downpours for perhaps 30 minutes or so are just heavy showers

one of the local tv stations ran a 30-minute alert show on monsoon season on Thursday - taped it - some good advice but most of it seems like a bit over the top

we shall see

as of right now, not a cloud in the sky (except the smoke from the wild fires)

It has to be over the top because people here turn stupid (stupider?) when it rains. We have a dumb motorist law in affect because people keep trying to drive through washes when they are flowing.

quote:

Originally posted by jmalb:
It has to be over the top because people here turn stupid (stupider?) when it rains. We have a dumb motorist law in affect because people keep trying to drive through washes when they are flowing.

It is actually called the "Stupid Motorist Law". Drive around barricades to enter a flooded roadway, and you can be assessed the cost of your rescue. Some of those rescues are pretty hairy, too.
 

Seemingly every time it floods Oak Creek Canyon some dumbass drives through it.

quote:

Originally posted by DoubleAdobe:

You're right, Michael Goodrich was great, really miss his common sense approach to weather.
A small correction, his deal was Ice Break on the Santa Cruz,lol.
I did not know he was a shooter, though I am not surprised. Too old too soon, sigh.

Michael G. was also a country western dancer. I used to see him at the old Buckskin Bar.......the Tucson Mall is there now!! I don't ever remember seeing him drinking though.....could have just missed it. He was originally from Okla. if memory serves.

Yes, I could tell Michael was a real country boy, and seems I do remember him mentioning Oklahoma.
I don't remember the Buckskin Bar but do remember the old Buckskin Tavern way out east close to the Triple T. Long gone of course.
Then there was Jimmy Stewart the weatherman, didn't he take over for Michael G? He had a good long run as well, better than average weather guy I thought. Used to see him once in a while in Bisbee on the weekends.

well, they weren't kidding - today was supposed to be the coolest day of the week and we went screaming right through 110 around noon

The memories of when I lived in New Mexico.

March and April, the winds blowing for days on end. Dust permeating everything, tumbleweeds all over the place. If the winds went below 30 mph it was considered a breeze.

June and July, Monsoon season. Probably about 1983 like Tucson we had a five and a half inch rainfall. Combine that with the clay (adobe) soil and the fun began. Standing rainwater and nowhere for it to go. Bridges washed out. And of course the "I can drive through that arroyo, that water is not that high" game.

After the standing water went away, the ground turned to adobe. S*** stuck to everything. And for added entertainment, take a shovel to it. Dig down, the top couple of inches were mud and below that dry. No wonder we had so much standing water, it could not seep down.

Probably 20 years ago we were on a 2 week traveling vacation touring the SW USA.

Spent a couple days visiting friends in Tucson, and experienced asphalt melting in parking lots, rubber shoe soles bonding with hot asphalt in parking lots, etc etc.

I love the desert but it seems to be much nicer with air conditioning. But then I have turned into an old fart that likes air conditioning.

For those visiting the area, a word of caution!

Pay attention to those signs on the highways that warn of flash floods!!

A heavy downpour miles away in the mountains can lead to short but dangerous walls of water coming down those washes.

Saw one, once, don't care to get wet in one.

Don't worry there are no areas on the highways that water crosses the roads. It's usually just smaller back roads.

quote:

Originally posted by cheeze:
Don't worry there are no areas on the highways that water crosses the roads. It's usually just smaller back roads.

I hope that was tongue in cheek.
 

It is going to be another hot one today folks. 1:20 P.M. and already 115F at my house!! My a/c is working it's ass off, but won't/can't hold my inside temp set at 77F......up to 79F so far.

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:
It is going to be another hot one today folks. 1:20 P.M. and already 115F at my house!! My a/c is working it's ass off, but won't/can't hold my inside temp set at 77F......up to 79F so far.

It's so hot in Phoenix that they've been cancelling flights today since it's expected to reach the maximum safe operating temperature of some of the jets.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/trave...cancelled/ar-BBCWCgN

Tucson has been cancelling some flights also, especially the smaller jets.

Sunny and 72 degrees at my San Diego home right now. Thank you, cool Pacific breeze!

its about 3PM here and the temp is just hovering around 118

turned my AC up to 80 degrees - it just can't keep up with the heat load right now so I figure why stress the system to do something it can't

it had been cooling off nicely into the mid 70's overnight but at 530 this morning it was 82

tomorrow and Thursday should be the hottest days - and yes, I've heard about the cancelled flights - density altitudes are way up there - around 6600 feet

quote:

Originally posted by cheeze:
Don't worry there are no areas on the highways that water crosses the roads. It's usually just smaller back roads.

there were four major highways that would get four foot deep , when I was there 10 years ago, maybe they have fixed that , now ?

One good thing about these "warm temps", it sure does make a cold beer taste mighty good!!

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Sunny and 72 degrees at my San Diego home right now. Thank you, cool Pacific breeze!

Weird temp difference in Sandy Eggo, indeed. A few years ago, was in late May, I rode my GW thru the mountains on I-8 when it was 104 degrees and into SD when it was 65 degrees. A matter of about 10 miles.